Well hello 2015! You’ve come through, charging full-steam ahead already, I see.

I hope everyone’s New Year celebrations went well, and that 2015 has rolled in with new (or to-be-continued-from-2014) and exciting plans and inspirations.

As is our cultural inclination, the start of the year holds the sensation of renewed possibilities and the plan (or hope) to work towards making our todays and tomorrows better than our yesterdays. But I’ve also noticed another cultural inclination of ours … the inclination to rush.

Hurry here, hurry there. Rush, rush, rush. Have to do this, have to be there, have to call that person, have to make that deadline, have to, have to, have to, hurry, hurry, hurry. We all have a tendency to tackle our schedules at high speeds, flustered by our own flurrying, succeeding in this, failing in that, stressing over this, floundering over that.

I think you get the picture.

And, of course, for most of us, the things we pour our time and energy into are necessary in maintaining the lifestyles we want. Our thoughts and actions are what we use to live, to feel, to express, to enjoy: friends and families, clubs and hobbies, shopping, bills, day jobs, side jobs, school, study, housework, projects and plans. The things we mould into our daily lives are all part of the musical score that is us. Our life is our own unique song.

And so the notes continue to play, day-after-day, and we, as the conductors and songwriters, direct the melody to our wants and needs. There is a strange sort of harmony in the chaos of living; a chaos we usually augment beyond its natural pacing, by our own sense of ‘must haves’ and ‘need tos’, and yet still manage to extract and preserve something beautiful.

But I feel the one thing we should seriously try to remember, even as we rush along into this New Year with all our hopes and dreams and purposes and plans, is that a song (our life’s song) does not merely consist of all the notes we put in place, but of pauses as well.

“The pauses are just as important as the notes, for without them, there is only a cascade of noise, void of pacing and breath, and thus, void of life.” –

In music, it is the sound of the instruments and the voices which draw our attention. But what truly makes a song so wonderful to our senses, is the marriage of the notes and pauses throughout. Without the pauses along the way, music would be overwhelmed by its own power.

It’s the same with our lives. What we create each day will become the notes to add to the song of our life. But in all the hustle and bustle of getting from point to point, task to task, requirement to requirement, we mustn’t forget to put in some pauses.

Find what things work as pauses for you, and make sure to add them to your days.

Spends some time alone with nature (and maybe a four-legged friend).

Listen to your favourite music.

Sit back, relax, and do nothing.

Maybe roll out a blanket and watch the clouds go by for a while.

Heck, why not find a park bench and sit yourself down and just allow the world to go by and leave you behind for a few minutes.

artwork by DeviantArt artist, Sideburn004

Whatever fits into your Pause Category, take the time to add them into your song. If you say you’re too busy, it’s because you are, and you need to adjust a few things. Shoving all your notes one after the other will not give you the music you want. Take the time to admire each note as it is strung, otherwise you’ll miss out on its true value, and you’ll go through life giving of your time and energy while failing to receive the fullness of what is given back to you.

Don’t forget your pauses!